Non-clogging printer recommendations?

[lassiter]

I've just given away my Epson 1270 because I could no longer put up
with the grief of a printer that constantly clogs up. I don't want to
buy a printer that you have to fire up (and waste ink) every few days
just to keep it from drying out, so I've sworn of buying another Epson.

My first thought is something from Canon, but I've read that their
drivers aren't the best. Dye-sub is appealing, but I'd really like to
use my supply of Red River papers, and it wasn't hard to get pleasing
color with the Epson.

I have large format papers (and rolls that could be cut) for something
like the i9900, and the price is not a problem, but I don't know how
finicky the printer is, and whether I should just "punt" and use
something with a small format / fewer nozzels.

[Charles]

I've 0only had trouble with my 1270 about three times, once where I
had to do something other than just run the cleaning program. I leave
it turned on all the time, but maybe run a print sesion once a month.

At my mom's house we have an HP that gets left for months at a time,
turned off, that has never shown a clogging problem.

[Jim]

With HP printers, the print heads are incorporated into the ink
cartridges. When you install a new cartridge, you're also
installing a new print head.

The only bad thing about this is the cartridges are expensive.

I've got an old DeskJet 952 that I've had for about 3 years.
I've never had a clog.

[Christopher H]

I have a Epson 1200 sitting in my basement ready to go in the trash
just because of this. I don't have the time or patience to mess around
with purging the clogged print heads with warm distilled water. I'm
never going to buy another Epson product for as long as I live, I am so
disappointed with this printer. I ran more cleaning cycles than actual
prints.

I bought a Canon Pixma 5000 about 4 months ago. It doesn't do large
format (larger than 8x10, anyway) -- but for the few times I need that
I'll go to the print shop at the mall, or send out.

The Canon is awesome... true borderless 4x6 prints with no perforated
edges to tear off...full duplexing for when the kids have to print
their book reports...almost bizarre low ink consumption...the photos
come out looking just as good or better than any of the Fuji minilab
print places I've used.

No problems or issues with either the software or driver on Windows
XP...just follow their install directions and it seems fine

[lassiter]

I have a Epson 1200 sitting in my basement ready to go in the trash
just because of this. I don't have the time or patience to mess around
with purging the clogged print heads with warm distilled water. I'm
never going to buy another Epson product for as long as I live, I am so
disappointed with this printer. I ran more cleaning cycles than actual
prints.

I bought a Canon Pixma 5000 about 4 months ago. It doesn't do large
format (larger than 8x10, anyway) -- but for the few times I need that
I'll go to the print shop at the mall, or send out.

The Canon is awesome... true borderless 4x6 prints with no perforated
edges to tear off...full duplexing for when the kids have to print
their book reports...almost bizarre low ink consumption...the photos
come out looking just as good or better than any of the Fuji minilab
print places I've used.

No problems or issues with either the software or driver on Windows
XP...just follow their install directions and it seems fine

So how has the color fidelity been with the Canon? That's the other
concern I've seen voiced.

[Colin D]

So how has the color fidelity been with the Canon? That's the other
concern I've seen voiced.

I have the Canon i9950 (the version with the CD-printing feature but
otherwise identical) and do quite a lot of A4 and the odd A3 prints.
The print quality is awesome, I can't see any difference between its
prints and Frontier 8x12's. Everyone, camera club types included, are
amazed the prints are from an inkjet.

Color accuracy is excellent, and proof of this is the absolutely neutral
blacks when printing a monochrome image. It has 8 tanks, two each of
cyan and magenta, and yellow, red, green, and black. It can accommodate
sRGB and AdobeRGB color gamuts. You need to get your color handling
right, but it's not too hard to do. There has been criticism of the ICC
profiles supplied for Canon paper, and I have found the profile for
Canon matte paper to be not so hot, but the glossy is very good, and of
course other papers supply their own profiles generally.

Lastly, its quiet, and fast, like a high quality 8x10 or A4 in about two
minutes. After my Epson taking about 8 minutes for the same size, it's
fantastic.